


Inconvenient

by iMoony



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Convenience Store, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 15:15:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8994295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iMoony/pseuds/iMoony
Summary: Jean had not signed up to be the one to help orientate the newbie and he hated that he had to give up his Saturday for this.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blessedthrice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blessedthrice/gifts).



> I hope you have happy holidays!

Jean had not signed up to be the one to help orientate the newbie. And yet here Jean was on a Saturday, his usual free day, getting Marco Bott up to speed with the ins and outs of One and Done, the family-friendly 24-hour convenience store of choice of Trost City. It was taking a lot of effort not to groan instead of smile every time a new customer came up to the duo and asked where this or that was. It was bad enough the rookie was asking lots of questions of his own and making this orientation take longer than it should have.

The only good thing was that Marco seemed to honestly need the help. Either that, or he was really good at hiding his real purpose of being an ass. Plus he was nice to look at. His smile was practically infectious and his skin looked like warm coco. It also took a lot of effort not to count the freckles sprayed across the guy's face.

"Jean?" Marco asked, dragging Jean away from his train of thought.

"Huh, what?"

"I said we could probably move on to the cash register now," Marco said with a patient smile.

"Right, yeah, okay." Jean lead the way to behind the counter. He nodded at the only other worker on staff today, a beautiful young woman with blond hair named Krista. "You can go ahead and take your break. We'll man the registers for the next 30 and then we'll take ours."

Krista beamed at him and then bounded off to the back. Marco moved to stand behind Jean instead of the empty register. Jean took a step away, getting some personal space, before starting up the instruction.

"The most annoying part is having to log in. These registers sometimes lock out too quickly if you accidentally mistype your numbers." Jean held out his hand to Marco wordlessly. Suddenly he felt the weight and warmth of the other man's hand in his own.

Jean dropped Marco's hand and looked perplexed. "I was asking for your card. I was going to show you how to log in by doing the first one for you."

"Oh, right," Marco chuckled. He turned quickly to reach for his wallet but Jean couldn't help but notice the cute blush that dusted his cheeks. _Uh, no, not cute_ , Jean reprimanded himself. He could not deal with having a crush on his coworker. His life was already shit enough without adding unrequited love to the table.

Once the card was in his hand, Jean logged Marco in carefully. He explained all the ways the computer system could be a butt and the ways to (metaphorically) punch it into submission (sometimes literally). It wasn't a long process and eventually Marco was allowed to cautiously start checking out customers himself. Jean was right next to him, though, ready to help if need be.

However, Jean's help was never needed. Thirty minutes went by without a problem. Jean was almost ready to give Marco the go-ahead to try things more independently... And that wasn't even him trying to get away early! (Mostly because Jean had to stay for his full time no matter what. He had to be on staff for the next three shifts Marco is on as the "back up".)

Soon Christa came back up front and relieved the two for their break. Jean took the "newbie checklist" from his locker and sat down to start working on it while eating his honeybun.

Every customer was greeted by a genuine feeling smile and a cheerful hello? Check.

Customer was asked if they "found everything okay"? Check.

If a concern was expressed the clerk did their best to help? Check.

 _CRUNCH_.

Jean's head shot-up when he heard the weirdest sound coming from the other table. It was obviously Marco but he was curious as to what he  was eating. What Jean saw was almost too bizarre to comprehend.

"Are you... Are you eating dry ramen?" Jean asked incredulously. This seemed to surprise Marco in turn so he practically choked trying to swallow his bite.

"Yeah," Marco replied. "Is that... Odd? My brother kind of taught my whole family about ramen this way so this is all I've ever known." He chuckled but put the block of dry noodles down. He seemed apprehensive about picking it back up now.

"It's a little weird, yeah." Jean shrugged despite his statement. "But to each their own. Don't let me keep you from eating. I don't want you hating me in an hour when you're starving." Jean coughed, embarrassed that he cared, before going back to his own meal and work.

The crunching picked back up as well as an echoing sound of pencil on paper. Only instead of simple check marks, Marco had to have been doodling. Curious again, Jean perked up and called to him.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you drawing?" Jean smiled a very lecherous smile. "Is it me?" He waggled his eyebrows before he could stop himself. Was he flirting? He needed to stop flirting. Jean dropped the smile and eyebrow movement fast and steeled his expression.

Marco actually laughed, though, and damn if it wasn't adorable.

"No, I'm not drawing you, don't worry. I don't usually draw people from real life unless it's for class." Jean tried not to let his disappointment show on his face. He did NOT care if this really cute boy drew him or not. "I actually am trying to work on my own superhero comic."

Jean had to suppress a condescending laugh. He may not want to develop a crush on this man, but he definitely didn't want to make his coworker dislike him. But, c'mon, superheroes? Talk about nerdy. That almost made it easy to stop thinking about Marco as cute... Almost.

Marco was looking at Jean with an almost eager puppy expression and Jean wondered if he wanted to talk about his comic in-depth. Did he have no one else to talk about it to? Or is it that everyone in his life had already been over-saturated with the information and didn't want to hear another word about it?

Despite his fear of what path this might lead down, Jean decided he had to give Marco a chance to talk about his comic. The face was too hard to say no to.

"Um... Cool. Can you tell me any... more?" Jean wasn't sure how to ask when he really didn't want to but it seemed the awkward question was all Marco needed to open the flood-gates.

Most of what Marco said was preceded by "not to give too much away" but then consisted of an almost in-depth assessment of each character and plot line planned. He was giving too much away. Jean quickly realized that Marco had probably over-saturated his family and friends. He was thankful to have a new batch of ears to hear about his story.

However, when Jean asked to see any of the pages or if there was a place he could read it online, Marco clammed up with a very obvious blush.

"I... actually haven't started the comic yet," Marco admitted. He seemed to be very embarrassed by this. "My brother says I need to stop thinking about it and actually start working but... It's really nerve-wrecking to even think about letting others see it."

Jean balked at the idea that this guy was nervous about showing off his work when he was all too willing to talk about it. Still, Jean could understand the trouble with getting started. It's sort of the reason why Jean was a three-year employ and One and Done while most people only stay for a season. Jean had no direction and was too scared to try to be something more than a convenience-store clerk.

Marco was willing to show off his character doodles, though. Jean moved over to stand behind the artist and looked over his shoulder at the sketch book. Jean was impressed. He felt bad for almost-laughing at Marco's aspiration when his drawings were so amazing. They were a great style for comic heroes. Especially for the darker theme Marco was aiming for.

"These are awesome, Marco," Jean said. He slapped the man on the back in congratulations right when his alarm went off, signaling the end of their break. "Time to get back to the grind."

The rest of the shift was spent without injury or problem. Jean was all too eager to leave and practically bolted out the door after he had clocked out. Marco left soon after, chuckling and the glee emitting from his coworker. The guy even bounded through the snow-drifts, making Marco think of a puppy. He kept those thoughts to himself, though, and waved goodbye.

That night Marco was tossing and turning instead of slipping. Finally he sprung up, grabbed his sketch book and started drawing. Something about his first day at One and Done had inspired him and he couldn't sleep until he had his creative juices spent.

When he was done, the Marco looked at his work. The undercut and duo-toned hair looked good on this new character. The sharp nose and smug smile added a sort of charm that was hard to explain.

Marco hoped that Jean wouldn't mind becoming a character in his comic.

**Author's Note:**

> I might continue this to get more shippy and hopefully be a better gift. I was having some bad writer's block initially so I'm sorry if this starts off lame.


End file.
